Now we’re all for a bit of creativity here and there (take Signal’s Every Third Thursday for example) but when hangboards, snowboards fitted out with LEDs and bizarre rotating bindings continue to crop up on a regular basis, you can’t help but wonder when these overzealous folk will realise that snowboards are pretty much fine as they are.

Next up in the long list of snowboard inventions that will never take off is this: the screw propellered snowboard. Developed by two French students, the mechanism is inspired by Archimedes’ screw – an invention which has helped transport water for irrigation since 3rd century B.C. – and is designed to propel you along the flat or up slopes. That means you’d no longer have to take the lift, be towed by a snowmobile, skin up, or y’know, just walk – which is all well and good if you plan on taking all day to go 100m (seriously, you could hike faster on your hands and knees!).

Once at the top of your chosen slope, the device can be removed and packed into a backpack so you can ride back down on a normal, unaltered, perfectly adequate snowboard.

We probably should give these guys a bit of slack as this is just a school project after all and props to them for making it work. However, we can’t help but feel that this is yet another case of trying to solve a problem that doesn’t really exist (contrary to what this article on the invention seems to suggest).

Besides, the Russians have already invented a far, far more powerful version…